Mass Effect DLC - Looking Back

April 29th, 2013, 14:07

SpiderDuck has an article discussing all the Mass Effect DLC. Enjoy and share your thoughts on his rankings.

The Mass Effect series is my favorite gaming series out there. I love pretty much everything about it and has kicked up my emotions so many times that I've lost count. That last statement is pretty impressive considering I have about as much personality and emotion jumping from me as a brick wall.
A couple months back we got the final piece of DLC, thus ending the Shepard trilogy. It was a bittersweet moment. I knew the end was coming and it was one hell of a ride I will never forget but it kills me that Shepard story is over. Through the course of this thrill ride we have had some amazing DLC and some not so amazing. In this article I am going to go over and rank the DLC for the entire trilogy. Now keep in mind that in my ranking I will not go over smaller bits of DLC (weapons packs, appearance packs, fire-walker, comics) and this is strictly for the single player. Sorry ME3 multiplayer. I will try and keep this as spoiler free as possible and as always, this is a personal opinion piece. I do not expect everyone to feel the same. I only wish to guide newcomers into which DLC they should not miss.

I agree with some of the list, though I don't really think of the extended ending of ME3 as a DLC - it's more of a mandatory bug fix/patch really, as the ending is hopeless without it.

Here's my list:

1) Citadel
While some of the content is a bit too silly for me, the rest is actually pretty good. Also, there's a lot more of it than in most DLCs, so that's a big plus. I actually liked the social events and the fact that the companions were getting along without the main character. Normally, companions tend to be isolated NPCs that only talk to the main character.

Sadly, it's really out of context, given the state of the galaxy. It would be more fitting in ME1 or 2 than 3, but oh well. I hope we something similar in future games.

2) Lair of the Shadow Broker
A high quality side quest, no doubt about it. I'd say the story in Overlord is probably superior to Shadow Broker, but it's interesting to team up with Liara again so I'll keep this in 2nd place.

3) Project Overlord
The best story of the DLCs. Quite a disturbing story really, but well worth playing.

4) Leviathan
It was interesting to get a little background on the Reapers, but there were a few things that didn't make much sense. Also, the actual gameplay is rather short.

5) From Ashes
I like Javik, but as the article mentioned - the mission itself is very short. Still, it's nice to get a new companion. Should've been included in the main game. Not only because of Javik, but also because of the Particle Rifle (quite a useful weapon).

6) Omega
Solid story, quite fun gameplay. Would've topped the list if Aria had become a permanent companion, as her Flare ability is simply awesome. The ME3 squad is fairly thin to say the least, so getting another companion through a DLC (Wrex, Aria, Nyreen, Grunt, Mordin, whatever really) would've been great.

7) Kasumi/Zaeed
I like getting new companions, and they are both somewhat interesting to bring along, but their conversational skills are completely lacking. They rarely have anything interesting to say.

8) Arrival
Not bad, but frustrating at times. Why didn't Shepard just shoot the doctor on several occasions after learning she had been indoctrinated? Blowing up a relay destroys everything in a solar system? What about the ending of ME3? Were the Reapers really able to fly into known space in 2,5 years? That pretty much breaks the entire story of ME1 and 2, as it makes no sense at all for them to try several silly plans when they could simply launch a surprise attack 2,5 years after Sovreign woke up and told them to come.

In ME1, the Reapers were "trapped in dark space" and then all of a sudden they were right around the corner, despite all their plans failing.

10) Pinnacle Station
A relatively uninteresting arena. The article failed to mention the house you get as a reward, where you can spend some money to get random rank X items. I actually like that feature, as I almost always have way too much cash to spend. Still, the actual amount of content is slim to say the least.

All hail Project Overlord. It might be my most favorite DLC's of all time, both to it's variated gameplay, unexpected events and primarily it's story. If all DLC's had stories like that with a twist that hit you in the gut and have very real-life implications, I would certainly grab more of them.

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